Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter 11

Upstairs, Yugi and Marik had gone to the former's room and ordered room service, so long as it was being billed complementary to the room. The kitchen seemed to be under orders from Industrial Illusions to take immediate care of the finalists, for their dinner arrived rather shortly. The bond between the two spirits had dissolved as soon as they entered the room, and Yugi had gone to flop on the bed tiredly, so Marik answered the door and kindly set everything up for him so he didn't have to get up until it was time to eat. Yugi slid into the seat across from his friend with a sigh. "What a weird day," he commented. "Of all the things that could happen during a tournament, that was the last thing I expected."

He had explained everything to Marik on the way up, so he understood the strange exchange between Yugi and Eiri before they left. "True," Marik said, "I'd have to say a secret admirer is far more weird than some of the enemies you've had pop up on you."

Yugi picked up his glass, shaking his head in disbelief. "Why are all these people all of a sudden so hot for me? I'm having trouble keeping track of them. It couldn't have happened back when I was in school, before Yami?" He smiled sadly. "Now that I have someone, now's when they all come after me. Eiri's not the only one."

Marik looked shyly away. "Unfortunately, I'm part of that list, too," he said apologetically. "Well, technically, my crush is on Yami, but…"

Yugi stared at him. "Uh…what?"

"I told the pharaoh about it, but you have a right to know too. Don't worry!" he quickly added, waving a hand. "I know better, I'm not going to act on my feelings. It's just a little crush, I would never break up the two of you."

Yugi frowned in concern, his thoughts going straight to Yami, but the pharaoh at the moment was being extremely silent and trying not to interfere. "But…Marik…"

Marik smiled innocently. "I understand your soul-bond, Yugi. What you and the pharaoh have is unlike anything else; it should be cherished and protected. I want to see you two stay together, I want you to have a happy life together. And I'll do anything I can to help you fend off these other would-be suitors."

"Thanks," Yugi sighed, slumping down again. "Great, that's another one. What am I doing right that I didn't do before? Why are these boys finding me attractive now?"

"All boys, huh?" Marik grinned. "Well, you are kind of cute. But I've heard that being in a committed relationship mysteriously makes men more attractive. Though I think that myth concerned women, I don't know if it works on other men too."

Yugi mustered a laugh and started on his dinner, deciding to let go of his surprise and worry about bugging Yami about this Marik thing later, when the tournament was over. "I suppose there's not that much chance for you to meet new people where you live," he mused. "No one you might want to go out with?"

Marik shook his head. "No. Believe me, Egypt is not the place to move to if you want to meet other men."

Yugi looked up at him in interest, hearing that. "So, you're pretty sure now? You…you're into guys?"

"Yeah. I can't really say as I even find myself checking girls out. Although you know, that head-to-toe covering makes it hard," Marik tried to joke. "When I returned to have a normal life with my sister and brother, I didn't realize how much I had changed – how much the world changed me. It's been fine, I love my family and wouldn't miss the chance to rebuild our lives for anything, but lately I've been a bit restless." He pecked idly at his dinner. "Especially after seeing all of you again, and knowing what kinds of things you do in Domino. I miss that."

"I bet," Yugi said sympathetically. "We had fun while you were there, even if it wasn't under happy circumstances. Mai's birthday party?"

"Yeah, that was a lot of fun," Marik agreed with a little smile. "I'd never danced like that before."

"Too bad you can't visit Domino more often," Yugi complained. "It would be so cool. I bet I can even find somebody to fix you up with."

"Oh, no…you don't have to do that."

"Aw, but I'd want to. I'm sure I know somebody who's looking to meet a nice man, hmm…" Yugi thought about it, and gave a little start when he came up with an idea. "I know! What about Bakura…?"

Marik looked wary. "Are you serious?"

"Okay, spirit of the Ring aside. Ryou is a nice guy, and, well…I think he sort of has a little crush on me too. But, I know he likes boys." Yugi gazed across at Marik and studied him for a moment. "Yeah, now that I think about it. Ryou is good-looking, he's sweet, he could use someone to care for him. And you already know about the Millennium Ring and the spirit, so it's not like he'd have to try to explain that to you and then hope you won't run the other way. And he knows you already, too."

"Yes, but one small problem remains," Marik pointed out. "I don't live in Domino."

"Yeah, that sucks. Well, if you do get to visit again," Yugi promised, "I'll re-introduce you two. Okay?"

"All right," Marik sighed comically, "if it makes you feel better."

They settled down to finish dinner, abandoning that topic for less nerve-wracking things and staying away from the tournament completely. It was a nice, peaceful, casual dinner, and Yugi appreciated having an understanding friend there to keep his nerves calm and his mind on anything but dueling. He was aware of Yami within him listening, but the pharaoh had no need to interrupt or steal his focus, he was content to just be there as a comforting presence until he was needed. Marik excused himself after they finished, knowing Yugi needed time to prepare his deck and probably wanted to do that alone. He wanted a good seat, anyway. They clasped hands, and Marik wished him good luck before departing. Yugi took his duel disk off the desk and retrieved his deck, thumbing absently through it. Almost immediately, he sensed Yami's presence within him and envisioned the pharaoh standing beside him. "You seem uncertain," he noticed.

"I am," Yugi said quietly. "I don't know whether to be excited or nervous to be facing Joey, or whether it's right for me to be thinking about what I have to do to beat him. He deserves this shot at being champion, I almost wish it were anybody but me having to stand in his way." He turned and looked up at the ethereal vision with worried eyes. "You heard what he wants to do with the prize money."

"I know. And it's a wonderful idea, but so is yours." Yami stepped closer and clasped his hands around Yugi's as he cradled the deck, though Yugi only felt it as a sort of electricity on his skin. "You're both in the final round, therefore you've both already won something. The second place prize is less, but it's still a sizeable amount, isn't it?"

"I guess…"

"You promised your best game," Yami reminded. "Joey will give you his in return. You must simply play with all your heart, take no chances, give no ground, and in the end one of you will have a fancy title. It doesn't matter who, as long as you know you put up a good fight."

Yugi looked down at the deck in his hands. "All my competitive instincts are awake, I feel like restructuring our deck to have the best chance against him. I know his strategies and his cards, I know what I need to do to beat him."

"Then do it. Don't go easy on him just because he's your best friend. He wouldn't want that." The vision of Yami stood back, allowing Yugi to do as he pleased. "Remember, inside the duel tower at Battle City? He didn't want us to make allowances for him, or he would never know if he was truly good enough to be in that tournament. You must push him to his limits. If he defeats you, he'll know he is worthy of being the world champion – and if he doesn't, he'll know just how much harder he needs to work to get there." He passed a hand over Yugi's head, as if to stroke his hair. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. It really does." With a renewed smile, Yugi laid his deck out on the desk and hunted out one particular card, picking it up and looking at it. "I think I'm going to take this out."

Yami looked; it was Rite of Transference. "Are you sure about that?" he wondered. "Pegasus said it was legal."

"Yeah, but…I don't want to give anyone the chance to dismiss my win by thinking Pegasus somehow helped me, even though he didn't." He laid it aside, and resumed poking through the deck. "This way, I won't have to explain myself to anyone. Hmm, what else should we do?"

"Would you like to put more of the unique cards from my deck into yours?" Yami requested. "Joey doesn't know what I like to play with, when you and I play each other. He won't know to expect them. Besides." He gave Yugi a sweet smile. "That way, it will truly be 'our' deck."

"Yeah, I like that idea…" Yugi retrieved the second deck from his suitcase and flipped through it, asking Yami's opinion on which cards in particular he wanted added, and selecting a corresponding number to take out of his deck to bring it back into balance. Time was growing short, so they declared it as perfect as it was going to get, and inserted it into the duel disk for Yugi to take down to the arena. Just as they were getting ready to leave, there was a knock at the door. Yami faded away, and Yugi went to answer it, blinking in surprise as he looked up into Kaiba's stern face. "Kaiba," he exclaimed. "Uh, hi. Are you going down to get a good seat for the last round?"

"No," Kaiba replied curtly. "I'm not going down. I'll watch the rest of the tournament from my room." He hesitated, an uncomfortable look passing through his eyes. "Look," he finally said, "what you saw me do this afternoon…"

"Don't worry," Yugi said kindly. "I won't tell anyone."

Seto looked away, his face growing thoughtful. "I know I've treated you like shit most of our lives, and you still seem to want to be friends. I don't understand that about you. But you always show up just when I could use your help, so…"

Yugi smiled suddenly. "Kaiba, are you trying to apologize to me?" he asked in wonder.

"Don't let it go to your head." He looked at Yugi again, though without the usual anger or resentment in his eyes. "You saw a moment of weakness in me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to suddenly go all soft and cute and friendship-like."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Yugi said. "I may not like when you put me down or act like a jerk to me and my friends, but that's just the way you are, and I accept that. But, just because we're rivals doesn't mean we can't also consider each other friends."

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that the point of being rivals?"

"Not necessarily. I mean, you've been there to help me in the past, too. If you think about it, we've always had this back-and-forth pattern of backing each other up in our toughest times. I saved you, you helped save me. I don't know about you, but that sounds like friends to me."

Kaiba lowered his eyes so as not to have to look at the earnest innocence of his rival. "I don't want or need anything like that. My only burning desire is to crush you in a tournament, not make friends with you."

"Yeah, but you don't have to give up on your goal. In fact," he said smartly, "I don't want our rivalry to end. You keep me sharp, you push me to my limits with no excuses. My other friends hesitate, they don't want to hurt me. You don't care, you just keep pushing, and that helps me be a better duelist." Yugi tilted his head, looking all the more sweet and innocent. "But it's nice to know that in a hard spot, when I have no one else, you're somehow going to be there, making a difference."

Kaiba lifted his head, gazing down at Yugi with renewed understanding. "Fine," he said gruffly. "I can accept that. Just don't expect me to be anyone other than who I am."

"Oh, believe me," Yugi said wryly, "I won't."

Kaiba nodded and turned to go next door to his room, stopping with his hand on the doorknob. "Yugi…" Yugi turned back to him, as he had already closed his door and was heading to the elevator. Seto gave him a grim sort of look that passed for a smile. "Don't let Katsuya beat you. I would much rather hunt you down for the championship title than him."

Yugi smiled and nodded back. "I'll do my best."

Accepting that much, Kaiba pushed his door open and disappeared inside. Yugi continued on to the arena downstairs, going to the green room to find that only Joey had shown up so far, and was sitting hunched in a chair tapping his fingers on the top of his deck in a fidgety manner. He glanced up when he heard the door, but his smile failed on his lips. "Hey, Yug," he greeted him. "All set to go?"

"Almost," Yugi replied, going over to him. "There's just one small question I had, something Yami and I discussed on the way down but weren't able to reach a decision about. We wanted to know your opinion on it."

Joey sat up and looked at him curiously. "Yeah, sure…what is it?"

Yugi swept back the edges of his coat and stuffed his hands shyly in his pants pockets. "Would you rather duel just me, or the two of us bonded as we usually duel? I didn't know," he tried to explain, "if you would think it unfair if Yami and I dueled together."

Joey dropped his gaze, staring at the floor instead, while he thought. "Yug," he responded, "I only want one thing. I want the world champion. I can't settle for less. If you got to be where you are by being bonded with Yami, dueling as one person, then that's what I want you to do. That's who I have to duel in order to find out if I'm really ready to be the world champ."

"All right, then." Yugi glanced down, and watched the Puzzle glow in preface to the connection forming with Yami, their two minds becoming one. In his deeper, calmer voice, Yami Yugi added, "I won't give you anything less than my best, Joey. My heart is in this."

"So is mine." Joey stood up, and clasped hands strongly with his best friend. At that moment, both Shandy and Eiri arrived, and then Croquet entered from the private corridor to let them all know that they would be escorted into the arena in just a few short minutes.

The techno music was pounding even more loudly through the grand hall when they were brought inside, and the audience cheered wildly upon seeing them even though the televised portion had not quite started yet and they weren't being formally introduced. The private box had shrunk down to just four chairs, but their friends were all sitting in the first row right behind it, and waved excitedly when they saw Yugi and Joey. They took their seats and settled to wait, as there was just a bit of delay before the well-choreographed portion of the evening began. Everything had to be in place for the cameras, and it had to start on time for people around the world to tune in as expected. It was being carried live to Japan, Australia, China, and portions of America, but the rest of the world would have to catch it on tape later. Pegasus came in and took his seat in the luxury box above the main action, and it was time. There was a new announcer now, instead of just Croquet, someone with a slick and punchy sort of voice who could work the crowd into a frenzy – so long as he didn't plan to include running commentary during the duels. The runner-up duel was to take place immediately, so the announcer called out Shandy and Eiri and provided a brief explanation of where each of them hailed from while they shuffled decks and Croquet declared them ready to duel. Yugi glanced with some concern at Eiri, wondering how he fared now that he had had an hour to cool down. He seemed broken, but still sort of fired up to duel. Interestingly enough, Joey noticed. "Wow," he muttered, leaning over to Yugi, "that guy doesn't look so good. He must be taking your win hard."

"I don't think that's it." Yugi sighed and briefly explained to Joey what had happened between them before and after his duel, making Joey's eyes go wide in shock. Yugi made an unsettled face. "I know he thinks he has feelings for me, but he never met me until the flight down here. How can you love someone you've never met?"

"That's called stalking, Yug," Joey said dryly. "You should stay far away from him, it could be trouble."

"As long as he understands that I'm not available." Yugi sighed again, wishing it would just go away. He had more important things to concern himself with than the broken heart of a young man he didn't know.

Despite his shattered dreams, Eiri dueled like a man possessed, taking out his anger and frustration on Shandy and refusing to give in to her. It allowed him to charge out to an early lead, but it also made him an unstable duelist, giving Shandy the opportunity to stave him off after a point and work to wrest control back from him. She had made it this far and beaten Kaiba, she saw no need to let her streak of good luck run out now.

High up in the hotel, in the peaceful semi-dark of his room, Seto Kaiba lay sprawled on his bed with his pillows all piled under his back so he could watch the duel on TV, an empty glass beside him and a can of soda from the vending machine near at hand. Watching Shandy duel again was not the most pleasing of activities, but he realized as she started beating back her determined opponent that she wasn't simply lucky to have defeated him. She really was a good duelist. Then, it occurred to him that he had better call home to warn his little brother not to expect to see him on TV. He hadn't checked in with Mokuba since leaving for the tournament, but both of them had arrogantly assumed that Kaiba would be in the final round and so didn't need updates of progress. He got up to get his cell phone and paced around the room while he called. "Seto!" Mokuba crowed into the phone. "I was wondering if I was going to hear from you before your big duel."

"Yeah, about that…" Seto sighed quietly and steeled himself up to admit it. "There isn't going to be a big duel. I lost."

"Yeah, but…what?" Mokuba went quiet. "You…lost?"

"You're watching the tournament, right?"

"Yeah, I've got it on right now."

"You see that girl out there?"

"Yeah…" Fortunately, Mokuba was quick to the uptake. "You got beat by her?"

Seto winced. "Yeah," he said heavily. "I guess my game was just a little off. She's good, but…"

"How badly?"

"I lost in the semi-final round. Had I beaten her, I would have had to face Katsuya."

"Oh, you could have beat him," Mokuba snorted. "You always do. So, does that mean he's going for the championship?"

"Yeah."

"Against…"

"Yugi, of course."

"Oh wow." Mokuba couldn't help but sound impressed. "That's gonna be a good show."

"I suppose." Kaiba glanced at the television as he paced past it, to see that Shandy had regained the lead. "I just wanted to call you and warn you so you didn't have a shock when you didn't see me there, dueling Yugi."

Mokuba's voice softened. "Are you okay, bro?"

Seto didn't answer for a moment, blinking absently at the floor. "I'll be fine," he assured. "It's just a stupid game, right?"

"Oh, they just showed Yugi," Mokuba noted. Seto turned to glance at the TV again. "Hey, wait a minute. In the audience there behind them. Is that…?"

"Valon. Yeah." Kaiba snorted. "Katsuya dismantled him, too, I never got the chance to face him."

"Freaky." Mokuba sighed into the phone, the concern returning to his voice. "I'm really sorry, big brother. I know how badly you wanted to win. Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

"Yeah," Seto quietly answered.

"I wish I was there. It must be horrible to be sitting watching it like this." He then realized something – he didn't hear any crowd noise. "Where are you, anyway?"

"In my room. I didn't feel like sitting in the audience, I have a headache."

"Aww." Mokuba paused to look at the TV, to see that the girl who had beaten his brother was about to battle her way to a third-place finish. "I don't blame you. Are you gonna watch the rest now, and see if Yugi wins?"

Seto paced back around his bed and sat down on the edge of it. "I guess so. I don't feel like going to bed quite yet. But I'm calling for my plane first thing in the morning, so I can get back to Domino as soon as possible. I don't need to be hanging around here any longer."

"You sound sad," Mokuba noted. "It's okay, bro. There's always going to be another tournament. It doesn't matter to me if you're not the world champion, as long as you did your best. It's not like the future of KaibaCorp was on the line or anything, you'll come back here and everything will be just the same as it was before."

Seto found a relieved half-smile gracing his lips, hearing his brother's acceptance. "Thanks, kid."

"You want me to let you go, so you can watch the big duel?"

"You know…" Seto scooted back on the bed and reclined against his pillows. "…as long as we're both watching it, I can stay on the line. It's not like I can't afford to waste the cell minutes."

Mokuba laughed. "That's true. We can watch it together, and make stupid comments about Joey and stuff. I like that idea!"

Smiling a little more strongly now, Kaiba stretched out and rested an arm beneath his head, grateful for the friendly voice in his ear. "Since they didn't let me bring any guests to watch the tournament in person, I may as well get to share this part of it with you."

"Yeah. Oh, look!" Mokuba said with sudden energy. "She just won."

Shandy had turned the tables on Eiri and won herself the third place prize, knocking him even further into frustration. Far from just a small cash prize, the third place ranking would count in future tournaments anywhere in the world, and it seemed by her beaming smile, that was what Shandy had wanted most of all. The chipper announcer congratulated her and asked the duelists to clear the field, for there was to be a short presentation before the championship round, a video recap of the two days' worth of dueling action to show how some of the well-known duelists fared and where some of them bowed out. It was shown in the arena on a projection screen, but it was more for the television viewers elsewhere who hadn't even heard who was all entered. For those who had played, it was clear now why Industrial Illusions had photographers out visiting all the duels, and apparently had even recorded footage from the quarter and semi-final rounds today. At last, it wrapped up with a huge overblown introduction to the two remaining duelists, making a huge deal out of the fact that they were both from Domino, both friends, and had faced each other in this exact same situation in the finals of Duelist Kingdom so many years ago. Both Joey and Yugi had put on their game faces, and didn't glance aside at each other as their names were called and they each stepped down through a swirling hail of intellibeam lights, raising their left arms and activating their duel disks at the same time. They met Croquet in the middle, shuffled their decks, and finally looked straight at each other with a firm, encouraging smile before turning to go to their places.

In the front row, Marik, Mai, Rebecca, Valon, and Mako all sat together, applauding at the moment but quickly thinking that it was going to be difficult to decide who to cheer for. "This is so tough," Mai said for them all. "I can't decide which one I want to win."

"I know," Rebecca agreed. "They both deserve it, and they're both good enough to get it. I can't even predict which one is going to win."

"I'd like to say Yugi," Marik offered, "but I can't dismiss Joey. He's fought so amazingly, I've never seen him duel like this."

"Katsuya's sure got heart," Valon commented, "but I think Yugi has the skills. He's got the pharaoh, after all."

"Well, I feel I must cheer for Joey," Mako decided. "I've dueled them both, but Joey has my card in his deck."

"There you go," Mai chuckled, "take the easy way out. Root for your card, not the duelists."

Mako laughed brightly. "Yes! Go Legendary Fisherman!"

Valon cupped his hands around his mouth. "Come on Yugi! What?" he added as Mai shot him a dirty look. "Nobody expects me to cheer for Joey, so I'm not going to disappoint them."

"Yeah Yugi!" Rebecca added.

"Come on, Joey!" Mai belted out. "You can do this! I believe in you!"

Joey gave some sign of having heard her, his head turning just enough and a smile flickering across his face before he resumed staring at Yugi across the field, taking his cards into his hand.

Yami Yugi drew to start the first duel, glancing quickly to see what his card was before adding it to his hand. "Well, here we are, Joey," he said with a very slight smile.

"Yep," Joey said with equal calm. "Here we are."

Yugi patiently ordered his cards, not needing to explain his actions as he laid two face down and summoned Beta the Magnet Warrior. "I don't plan to go easy on you. If you really want my title, you're going to have to fight me for it."

He lowered his hand to his side, signaling that it was Joey's turn. Joey likewise drew, studied his cards, and went about planning his opening move. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you. But, out of curiosity, what's your big reason for wanting to win?"

Yugi smiled mysteriously. "I'll tell you when the match is over."

"Aw, come on!" Joey laid one card down and summoned Gearfried. "That's no fair, you know mine."

In the audience, Rebecca looked aside to Mai. "What are they talking about?"

Mai shook her head. "No idea."

"True," Yugi admitted to Joey, "but it's enough to know that I have my reasons. I'm not just going to give you a challenge for challenge's sake, Joey…I'm in this to win."

"Good." Joey grinned darkly. "But you're going to have to win twice, in order to count me out. Gearfried, attack his Magnet Warrior!"

The first duel of the three-round match went surprisingly fast, as Joey worked hard to wrestle Yugi into submission and maximize the potential of his gambling cards. It was a difficult and spirited game, at the end of which Joey out-maneuvered his best friend and used his intricate knowledge of Yugi's deck to prevent him from playing his most devastating Trap cards. Yugi fell back in astonishment as Joey defeated him, and even Joey seemed rather surprised to have won. At least it was only the first round, as they were very willing to point out to each other, and this time two judges came out to shuffle their decks for them. Fortunately, the announcer was not providing a play-by-play, since most duelists tended to do that themselves, but in between rounds he yapped on pointlessly about the best-of-three series and how it was still anyone's game. When their decks were returned to them, the two friends leaped straight into the second round, the intensity of their battle multiplied tenfold. Joey was one duel away from knocking Yugi out of his championship spot, and battled fiercely to try to make it happen. Yugi was not going to let himself fall so easily without putting up more of a fight, and this time it seemed his heart was the stronger one. It came down to the usage of a single card, Mystical Raft Panel, and for a moment both of them hesitated. They had been in this situation before, staring across at each other with the panel storing the brunt of an attack, waiting to redirect it and end the duel, but last time, there had been extenuating circumstances. Even Marik and Mai, watching from the audience, remembered that last time, and both held their breath uncertainly. Yugi quickly shook off the unpleasant jolt of memory and pointed across the field, commanding his Raft Panel to unleash its reflective power on Joey's life points, wiping him out completely. Mai heard Marik let out a small noise of discomfort – it was hard to watch. Joey, however, did not seem to be affected by the memory of being mind-controlled and watching Yugi use the card to sacrifice himself. He just picked himself up and stared down his best friend with a cocky grin. "Now it's tied," he noticed. "We're both one win away from the top. Last round…winner takes all."

Yugi nodded firmly. "This will determine everything."

Their decks were shuffled one last time, and while they stood aside to wait, they could hear the crowd noise ratcheting up a notch, echoing their own internal excitement. Yugi decided he was too hot with the coat and threw it off, now that he had a chance, leaving him in just his slinky black shirt with the Puzzle swinging around his neck. Joey still had his jacket just tied around his waist, having already learned that dueling was strenuous work. They fell to it one more time, finally able to surprise each other with cards that neither had previously held or played against each other. The appearance of a few new strategies put Joey on the alert for Yugi's one-of-a-kind Trap card, and he tried to keep something in his hand to combat it should it suddenly make an appearance, but he wasn't sure whether he should try summoning Jinzo in the off chance that Yugi could destroy him and clear the way to play his Traps. Every time Joey seemed to gain the upper hand, Yugi came right back and knocked him down, control of the duel shifting hands just about every other turn. The crowd was going positively berserk by now, having finally decided which duelist they wanted to win and screaming their names. Mai and Mako cheered on Joey, Marik and Rebecca backed Yugi, and Valon decided to have fun messing with everyone by alternating back and forth, depending on who was in the lead at the moment. Yugi and Joey seemed to have blocked it out, though, for they focused on each other and played diligently, involuntarily dragging out the duel by continually foiling each others' attempts at strengthening their monsters or weakening their opponents'. Despite the difficulty of facing Yugi's powerful cards and his new surprises, Joey didn't let himself get riled up so he could play smart. He managed to destroy a powered-up Buster Blader before bringing out his Red Eyes, so the dragon would not involuntarily lend the warrior even more attack points, and then increased its power even further in order to wipe Yugi's Big Shield Guardna off the field and ensure that it would take more than the basic 2500 attack points to destroy his dragon. "All right, Yug," he dared, "let's see what you've got. It's gonna take more than just a big, bad monster to take down Red Eyes."

"Yes, Joey, I know." Yugi drew and smiled coolly, realizing that the winning cards were now assembled in his hand. "How about three Magic cards?"

"Eh?" Joey straightened up a little. "Uh oh. I don't like that wicked smile you got."

Yugi held up his card to show that it was Monster Reborn. "But first…" He opened the face-down card on his side of the field. "Card number one, Miracle Restoring! For a small price, it allows me to summon either Buster Blader or Dark Magician immediately. Since you already destroyed Buster Blader…" His life points decreased by a thousand, and a swirl of white stars announced the arrival of the Dark Magician, his arms crossed sternly. Yugi then threw down Monster Reborn, and Buster Blader returned to the field at the mage's side. He held up one more card, grinning at the panicked look on Joey's face as he guessed what it was. "Card number three…Polymerization!"

Joey gulped and stared as the two monsters fused together, reappearing in a blinding flash as a towering, glaring warrior in gold-trimmed black armor, an impossibly huge sword in his fist. "This," Joey realized, "is not going to be good."

"Dark Paladin!" Yugi boldly announced. "And thanks to his special ability, you can say goodbye to your Metalmorph."

"What? Nooo!" Joey wailed as the Magic card boosting his dragon's attack power exploded off the field. The metallic armor vanished off the dragon, leaving him vulnerable at his basic 2400 attack points. Dark Paladin had far more than that, on account of Red Eyes himself plus every dragon in their graveyards adding 500 points to him. The warrior leaped in and slashed with his mighty blade, destroying the dragon. It reduced his attack strength, but taking the dragon off the field and putting a serious dent in Joey's life points was worth it. It was now Joey's turn, and he drew with his eyes closed in hope. It would do, for now. "All right, then, I play Scapegoat!" he cried, slapping down the card. Four furry little goat tokens popped onto the field, standing as a multicolored wall before him.

"I'm sorry, Joey," Yugi said, though he was smiling as he did. "Reveal face-down card…"

It was Token Thanksgiving, one Yugi had never held before but came from Yami's deck. It eliminated any tokens on the field and raised the cardholder's life points to the tune of 800 points per token. Yugi had none, but Joey had the four, and in an eye-blink he was left defenseless and at his last 200 life points, while Yugi's raised to over 3000. "Wow," he breathed. "That really hurts, Yug."

"I know," Yugi admitted solemnly, "but I had to do it. I know you rely on Scapegoat to buy yourself time, in the same way I have Swords of Revealing Light – and you made me pay for using it in our first round."

"Yeah, I did," Joey grinned. "It's okay. Do what you have to do, don't coddle me. I can handle it."

Yugi nodded. "It's still your move."

Joey looked through the last few cards left in his hand with a sinking feeling. He had no monsters he could summon – only a high-level tribute monster – and no more Magic cards he could play in the face of the Dark Paladin. Scapegoat was to have been his salvation, and now it was gone. He plucked up one trap card and laid it down. "Just this. Your move."

Yugi drew and eyed the field, knowing that Joey had laid some kind of trap for him. It was probably the only move he could make, but Yugi had to play smart in order to keep from being completely obliterated in his arrogance. He glanced up at the back of his Dark Paladin, then into his hand, and knew what he had to do in order to win on this turn. Coming to that realization, though, broke his heart. He didn't want to be the one holding Joey back yet again, but he could not pass up the opportunity to win. Joey would never forgive him for letting him win instead. Yugi swallowed his emotions and laid down a Magic card. "I play DeFusion, to split the Dark Paladin back into Buster Blader and Dark Magician."

Joey's brows knitted in a confused frown. "You just fused him, now you don't need him? What, you think it's overkill or something?"

"No, I'm simply playing my best game, Joey." Yugi looked back and forth between his two monsters now standing apart on the field, deciding which one to send to trigger the trap. "Go, Buster Blader! Attack Joey's life points!"

The crowd gasped, realizing that this was the end, for Joey had only 200 points left. But then, Joey took a step back to brace himself for the attack and raised his hand toward his face-down card. Buster Blader cut through him with the big sword, but as he stood there for a moment trying to catch his breath, Yugi noticed that his life points had not gone to zero. In the front row, Mai had closed her eyes, but Valon poked her in the side. "Hey, look," he encouraged. "He's not out yet."

Mai looked up and realized the same thing Yugi had. "Wait a minute, his life points went up."

Joey stood panting behind the image of the Trap card Nutrient Z. Yugi blinked for a moment in surprise, and then smiled warmly. "Good move, Joey. You knew you couldn't withstand a direct attack alone, so you boosted your life points first."

"Yeah, but it was supposed to protect me from your Dark Paladin," Joey muttered, drawing the back of his hand across his face to wipe away a drop of sweat as he straightened up. "I didn't know you were going to split him up. I could hold off one of your monsters…but not two."

He stood at 1200 life points after that attack, but now had nothing on the field to stop the Dark Magician from ending the duel. They both knew it, and as Yugi stared his best friend in the eye across the field, he couldn't stop his emotions from rising in his throat. Neither of them could even hear the crowd screaming, it was just the two of them now. Joey stood with his back straight and opened his arms wide, inviting the attack that would clinch the duel, with an understanding smile on his face. For a moment, Yugi hesitated, unable to find the words to order the attack. But Joey's peaceful look and open arms showed he was ready, so Yugi took a deep breath to muster the courage to do what he had to. In a soft but authoritative voice, he commanded, "Dark Magician…attack Joey's life points directly."

Yugi could not watch as his mage raised his staff and blasted his attack strength at Joey, he turned his head away and closed his eyes lest tears rise in them. Joey withstood the massive explosion, but it reduced his life points to zero, ending the duel and his rise to champion. All around the world, wherever their friends happened to be watching, people stared at their televisions or down at the arena floor in incredulity, shocked into silence by the amazing end to the duel and the two friends standing motionless on either side of the field, heads down. Duke and Tristan sitting together on the former's couch, Bakura in his flat, Grandpa Muto at the shop, even Téa in New York up far too late for her own good, all sat watching with their hearts going out to both friends. Mako sat tight-lipped but applauding strongly, a firm look on his face, and soon the others with him resumed applauding themselves, joining the tide of adulation pouring out of the stands. Upstairs in his room, Kaiba found himself muttering an impressed curse over the phone to Mokuba. At last, Joey looked up, and started across the center of the arena towards Yugi. Yugi lifted his head, blinking away his tears, and saw Joey coming, but more importantly, saw the tears welling in his brown eyes as well. He couldn't remain still any longer, and charged across the field. They met in the middle with a huge, crushing hug, after which Joey grabbed Yugi by his slender shoulders and shook him gently, telling him in a private whisper how proud he was of his friend, and how it was as it was meant to be. It was definitely a match worthy of being shown around the world for game fans, and even as the cameras focused on two teary-eyed but smiling faces encouraging one another in voices only they could hear because the audience was so loud, everyone knew it would be a duel to be remembered.

Security men in dark suits came out and stood in a line along the bottom of the spectator seats, ensuring that no fan, not even the losing finalists, could leap out and charge the field to congratulate the winners or otherwise wreak havoc. They still stood together in the middle, Joey's arm slung around Yugi's neck, grinning tiredly at the audience as they waited for the official presentation of the championship title and prizes. Yugi hugged an arm around Joey once more, giving him a brief moment to hide his face and the Puzzle from watchers as the bond dissolved and he became his lowly self again, wide-eyed and apple-cheeked, beaming through his tears. The security detail ushered Shandy back out onto the floor to join them, and she shook both their hands as they stood in a knot. At last, Pegasus came down from his box in dramatic fashion, hands clasped behind his back as he walked up with a couple of lackeys behind him carrying the prizes. The snappy announcer guy also came down, with a camera to shove in the duelists' faces and ask them about their relative victories or defeats. Pegasus smiled placidly down at the three winners, and for once, Joey and Yugi did not shrink back from him, but smiled back, knowing that they had done their best and deserved to be where they were. "Congratulations," Pegasus said smoothly, and the audience finally quieted down enough to listen to him speak. "I always knew the final round of this tournament would be spectacular, but you've proven it above and beyond all my expectations. Even you, Mr. Katsuya." He turned his hazel eye on Joey. "You may have fallen short this time, but the world knows you, now. They'll be expecting great things from you."

Joey nodded, and shared a grin with Yugi. The lackeys stepped forward; presenting their boss with the trinkets he needed to hand out. "For the top three finishers in this world tournament," Pegasus declared, "I have prizes to show my appreciation, and a special card for each. Only three of this card were printed, so that everyone will know just by your owning it that you are a champion. First, the third place prize…" Shandy faced him boldly, and accepted her medal and a small cash bonus, as well as the card, which she studied eagerly as she stepped aside. "Second place, to Joey Katsuya…" Pegasus handed over a small trophy and an even bigger cash prize, which made Joey do a brief double take as he realized just how much it really was. Pegasus turned to his champion. "And, at last, to the reigning world champion of Duel Monsters, Yugi Muto. Congratulations…Yugi-boy." He presented Yugi with a small statuette of a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and the grand prize money. Yugi bowed to him in gratitude, but said nothing, simply turning back to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd.

The announcer for the match nosed in with his cameraman, asking the winning duelists if any of them wanted to say something to their fans and those around the world watching. Yugi shook his head shyly, but Joey blustered up to the microphone. "Actually, yeah. I've got something I want to say." He turned and looked into the audience, shading his eyes from the brilliant lights so he could see their friends in the front row. "Hey, Mai! Mai Valentine! Yes, you," he smirked as she blinked at him and pointed to herself to verify that he was really calling her. He could see her between a couple of suits, sitting near the end of a row. "Hey. You wanna marry me?"

Her eyes flew wide and her mouth dropped open silently. Yugi squealed with laughter. The rest of the crowd hushed suddenly in awe, wanting to find out if he was serious, and across the world, other friends similarly reacted – Tristan fell off the couch while Duke yelped, "What?" In his room, Kaiba just stared at the TV without a word. The others seated with Mai took a moment to realize he was not kidding, and began to applaud and laugh. Valon nudged Mai to wake her from her stupor. Joey was still grinning, and held out his hands in question. "Well? Do you?"

Mai blinked for a minute, and then mutely nodded. The crowd erupted, and Joey leaped up in the air with a shout. Yugi pounced on him again, squeezing him hard, and then pushed him towards the stands, as the security guys stepped aside to let Mai come down to the floor. The wave of cheers that surrounded them as they embraced could have quite possibly been louder than those for Yugi's victory.

As he stood aside laughing and shouting in joy over his best friend's public announcement, ignoring the cameras still hovering around him, Yugi heard the voice he loved in the back of his mind. "Something tells me that even though you're the world champion, Joey is going away with the better prize."

"Isn't it awesome?" Yugi mentally responded. "I can't think of a better way for all this to end." He smiled to himself as he sensed the pharaoh's presence lingering close to him, as if wrapping arms around his shoulders. "And we did it, too. We dueled fairly and didn't hold back one bit. We proved we can still have fun and push ourselves to win without anyone's soul or the world's fate being at stake – without a shadow game." He closed his eyes and breathed a soft, contented sigh. "We can still play regular old card games and make them mean something in the end."

Pegasus silently disappeared the minute the telecast was over, leaving his security force to clear the stands and keep the winning duelists safe from their fans. A couple of the dark suits ushered the group off the arena floor to the green room, reluctantly allowing any duelists in the audience – namely, Yugi and Joey's friends – who flashed their badges at them to go along. There, they could safely pounce on each other in a congratulatory frenzy without worrying about the general gaming public annoying them. Mai was still blushing bright red, a bit dizzy with excitement and unable to stop clinging to Joey but for the few moments when Yugi wanted a hug. Even Valon clasped Joey to him like an old friend and pounded him heartily on the back. "Way to go, mate!" he enthused. "You may not have won the title but man, did you ever steal the attention right away from Yugi! Good one!"

"Hey, that totally wasn't my intention," Joey insisted. "I was planning to ask that question regardless of which one of us won."

Valon slugged him in the shoulder. "I'm happy for ya," he said, more seriously, "I really am. I can think of no one better for Mai than you." He smiled at her as she sidled up to her boyfriend. "She's got this light in her eyes that I've never seen before, I think she's finally really happy. Sure," he added with a little shrug, "I'm a little disappointed that it couldn't be me that made things so, but we all know that wouldn't have happened."

"Thanks, Valon," Mai said gently.

He shook off his passing melancholy and grinned. "I'm invited to the wedding, right?"

Joey snorted. "Leave me your address and I'll think about it."

Marik snuck up behind Yugi while he was talking to Mako and hugged him around the shoulders, making him blush briefly. "It's always amazing watching you duel," he said kindly.

"Thanks," Yugi breathed. "You couldn't tell I was nervous, could you?"

"Not at all." Marik looked slightly surprised. "You looked as calm and confident as ever."

"I blame that part on Yami." Yugi beamed happily. "Hey, what are we all doing standing around here? Let's go celebrate! We have two big things to toast tonight! It's on me…" He waved the voucher check from Pegasus in the air. "I can sure afford it, now!"

Joey pointed toward him. "Hey! If we go to the hotel restaurant, it's on Pegasus."

Yugi laughed. "Even better!"

Enough of the spectators had cleared out to allow them to sneak across the lobby from the conference room to the restaurant without being accosted, and the hostess confirmed that yes, their tournament badges earned them complimentary service on behalf of Industrial Illusions. Yugi, Joey, Mai, Valon, Marik, Mako, and even Rebecca (too young to drink, but not to eat dessert) settled around a big table to toast each other's victories and drink to Joey and Mai's happiness. Meanwhile, upstairs, Kaiba had wrapped up his absurdly long phone call to Mokuba with the assurance he would be flying home as early as he could have his plane ready, and gave his little brother permission to skip school in order to be there to meet him. He wasn't planning on going to the office, figuring he deserved a half a day to recover from the trip before losing himself in his work again. They said their good nights and hung up, and Kaiba went to take a shower and get ready for bed, planning on an early wake-up call. When he came out of the bathroom toweling his hair, he noticed a folded note had been slipped under his door. He picked it up and frowned at it, moreso when he saw who it was from. For some reason, Yugi's words to him earlier in the day flashed to mind: But if you keep clinging to it and let it eat you up inside, you'll never be able to take back what you've lost. Then, he thought of Mokuba easily dismissing his loss as no big deal and supporting him regardless, and of the sight of Joey rejoicing so happily despite his loss, and knew what he had to do. Growling to himself in annoyance, he quickly threw back on some clothes in order to run a brief errand.

Pegasus was more than aware of the added expenses to his company tab, and decided to go down and pay Yugi and his friends a little visit, but only because he knew where they were. He had no intention of making trouble, he only wanted to see how his guests were getting along. They were passing around hot appetizers and sharing cold desserts, laughing and talking loudly and generally carrying on in a celebratory fashion when he glided up to their table and interrupted. "My, my. It seems I don't need to ask how things are going, eh, Yugi-boy?"

Yugi swallowed his ice cream and blinked up at him. "Pegasus. Um…"

"But you certainly have a right to celebrate, don't you?" He smiled around the table. "It's good to see you and Mr. Katsuya are still speaking to each other after that difficult match."

"What? It's just a card game," Joey reasoned.

Yugi smiled diplomatically. "I think we're more celebrating the engagement than anything else, really."

"Yes, that was quite a surprise," Pegasus cooed. "I couldn't have planned a better ending to my tournament, Joey, Mai. The whole world got to see that proposal."

"I guess that saves having to go back home and tell everyone," Marik said with a shrug and a smile toward Joey.

"It would have been nicer to have some of my friends here, to see it in person," Joey admitted, "but hey. As long as Tristan was watching from back home, that's the next best thing."

Pegasus looked around at the varied collection of faces. "So what did you all think of my tournament? Did you enjoy yourselves?" Most of them nodded, not really having anything specific to say. He then turned to Yugi alone. "I'm quite impressed, Yugi-boy, that you managed to hold on to your title, with so many people hungering for it."

Yugi glanced briefly at Joey. "The title doesn't really mean anything to me," he said honestly. "I just kept winning because I didn't want to lose. I couldn't just wimp out, even if I had to play some very good friends who deserved to win as much as I did."

Pegasus gazed coolly at him, gauging his state of mind. "Well, then. Have you given any further thought to our standing business offer, now that the tournament is over? Or are you too full of happy dreams and ice cream to think about it just now?"

"Actually…" Yugi set down his spoon and fixed Pegasus with a brave, self-assured look. "I appreciate your offer, but I think I'm going to be just fine. This prize money is going to really help my grandpa, we won't have to worry about weathering any more storms. I don't need to take a job as your game tester, but thank you."

Pegasus raised an eyebrow. "I see. And that's your final decision?"

"Mhm," Yugi nodded. "I've thought about it a lot, and I'm sure."

"Very well." Pegasus regarded the rest of the table and nodded. "Enjoy yourselves, my friends, but don't stay up too late. Your flights home leave tomorrow, don't be late and left stranded." He waved a hand casually to them as he turned and left the restaurant.

A brief silence passed around the table. Then, Marik spoke up. "Is he always that creepy?"

"You have no idea, mate," Valon replied, and then everyone laughed.

"Yugi, what was he talking about?" Rebecca asked. "He offered you a job with Industrial Illusions?"

"Sort of," Yugi sighed, returning to his dessert. "Back when he asked me to help promote the tournament, he made the offer of being a game tester – getting paid to try out new cards, like the one he gave my grandpa. But I don't need the money anymore, so I really don't want to. It's bad enough people got upset to think he was helping me by giving me one special card, if I was a game tester that would haunt me for every duel from now on."

"Man, that stupid card," Joey muttered. "I was so worried about it, the whole time, I was trying to keep at least one strategy in my hand to stop it if it came up. But it never did, so…lucky me."

"Actually, Joey," Yugi said casually, "I took Rite of Transference out of my deck before our duel. It's up in my room."

"You…wha?" Joey stared, mouth open. "No way! Dude, I was so scared of that damn card – and it wasn't even in your deck?"

Everyone laughed at him, and Yugi just smiled cheerily. "You should know better by now, Joey. Never think you have your opponent all figured out."

Joey recovered from his surprise and shook his head. "Nah, I'm all right. Besides, you had me either way." He looked down at his duel disk still strapped to his arm. "I checked the next card in my deck, the one I hoped would rescue me if I managed to hold off your Dark Paladin one more turn, and it wouldn't have helped. I would have lost anyway. Eh, it's the way the cards fell. It was just your duel to win."

"Next time," Yugi promised. "One of these days, it's going to be you out there, Joey, and no one's going to stand in your way. Not even Kaiba."

While the friends celebrated downstairs, Pegasus excused himself from his official duties and went up to the penthouse, telling his lackeys he needed to rest and relax after such a long, hard day. As he swiped the key card and opened his door, he noticed something on the floor just inside. He picked it up, and a subtle frown crossed his features as he realized his spare key card had been slipped back under his door, along with a crisp "fuck you" note from Seto Kaiba.